What are the limitations of a cyclotron?

Answer 1

There are basically two applications for the cyclotron. It's a particle accelerator, and, though it can be adapted to accelerate any charged particle, it is most frequently applied to accelerate positive charges. Protons are frequently the choice. We use the cyclotron in the physics lab, and in medicine. In the medical area we are developing the cyclotron as a proton treatment source. More medical facilities are being set up with the cyclotron providing accelerated protons to irradiate tissue. The proton, unlike gamma rays, has a depth of penetration that can be finely tuned (by "tuning" the cyclotron) to limit damage to other tissues. The cyclotron is also used to create radioactive materials that are used as radiation sources which can be implanted. The radioactive materials can also be used as tracers in medical work ups and in research, and also to provide "luminosity" in some imaging because of the way tissue takes up these selected materials. These mostly short-lived radionuclides are "big business" in medical and biophysics. In the physics laboratory, we use the cyclotron to create particle streams that we then slam into targets. This is the continuation of research to investigate the quantum mechanical world. The cyclotron can be used to "feed" another or other accelerators to get higher energies and a "bigger bang" in the world of collisions, called scattering.

Answer 2

The cyclotron can only accelerate charged particles. Additionally, its size and the operating voltages will limit what it can accelerate and how much energy it can put into a given particle.

The spiral path of the cyclotron beam can only "sync up" with klystron-type (constant frequency) voltage sources if the accelerated particles are approximately obeying Newton's Laws of Motion. If the particles become fast enough that relativistic effects become important, the beam gets out of phase with the oscillating electric field, and cannot receive any additional acceleration. The cyclotron is therefore only capable of accelerating particles up to a few percent of the speed of light. To accommodate increased mass the magnetic field may be modified by appropriately shaping the pole pieces as in the isochronous cyclotrons, operating in a pulsed mode and changing the frequency applied to the dees as in the synchrocyclotrons, either of which is limited by the diminishing cost effectiveness of making larger machines. Cost limitations have been overcome by employing the more complex synchrotron or linear accelerator, both of which have the advantage of scalability, offering more power within an improved cost structure as the machines are made larger.

Answer 3

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